The present invention relates to aspirators for the removal of body fluids and foreign matter from the body, and in particular to a low-cost, disposable aspirator for minimizing the transmission of disease from a patient to another person.
Aspirators are used in hospitals and emergency rooms and by emergency rescue squads in the field for the removal of mucus, vomitus, other body fluids, and foreign matter from a patient by suction. Such an aspirator includes a venturi which is connected to a source of pressurized gas such as air or oxygen in order to produce a partial vacuum which enables a flexible hose to draw in the material to be removed from the patient.
One prior art aspirator includes a cover having a fluid inlet and a fluid outlet and a venturi and a valve fluidly connected between the inlet and the outlet. The cover is threadable onto a cylindrical container for retaining body fluids and other matter removed from a patient. The fluid passageway between the inlet and outlet in the cover contains a hole in fluid communication with the cylindrical container so that when pressurized air or other gas is supplied to the fluid inlet and flows through the venturi to the fluid outlet, a partial vacuum is produced inside the container. The valve is connected inline with the first fluid path so that the path may be either opened or closed.
The cover contains a second fluid path which connects a second fluid inlet with the interior of the container. A flexible hose is attachable this second fluid inlet so that body fluids and other material to be removed from a patient are drawn into the cylindrical container by the hose when the partial vacuum is produced by the venturi.
The cover of the prior art aspirator described above is relatively complicated and includes approximately 20 different parts including seven O-rings, a spring, a set screw, tubular inserts, etc. Because the parts need to be separately manufactured and then assembled, the aspirator is relatively expensive and is not disposable after it is used. As a result, after each use the aspirator needs to be sterilized. This sterilization requires disassembly of the aspirator which increases the risk that medical personnel responsible for sterilization will come into contact with body fluids contaminated with fluid-communicable diseases such as acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS).